PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Starting Monday, Philadelphians can vote by mail-in ballot.
The Philadelphia Board of Elections opened its doors Monday morning. The hallway outside is already lined with voting stations and there’s a drop box at the end of the hall so voters can come in, apply and receive their mail-in ballots, fill them out, and return them without waiting.
Four satellite offices had similar set-ups. City Commission Chair Omar Sabir encouraged voters to take advantage of the process.
“There’ll be someone on staff, they’ll look to see whether or not you signed it and dated it appropriately, whether or not your ballot’s in the secrecy envelope, and you can cast your ballot and it’s that simple! You don’t have to wait till November 5,” Sabir said.
One voter said they were grateful for the service.
“I had the luxury of getting here on the first day when nobody else was here and this lady took the time, step by step, to correct me when I forgot to seal the yellow envelope,” they said.
Philadelphia is one of only five counties to have ballots ready one week after the state certified official candidates. The process was slowed by challenges to three third-party candidates for president, all of whom lost their bid to appear on the ballot. Two third-party candidates — Jill Stein and Chase Oliver — do appear. They were not challenged.
A list of mail-in ballot drop boxes in the city can be found here.